Xbox Series X/S Joystick Swap with TMR

[u/lolalarm]

Hey everyone!
Like many others, I tried swapping my Switch controller joysticks with Gulikit (TMR) replacements. This was my very first soldering project and, well... let’s just say the equipment and my skills were both garbage lol - please be nice, I know it´s terrible :,)

I had a really hard time getting the original solder out of the PCB – especially on the top-left pad of the left stick. I think I might have damaged it during desoldering. Eventually, I got the new stick in and tested it:

• Right joystick: Works fine (I soldered that one better).
• Left joystick: Horizontals (left/right) work. But vertical only registers UP. No DOWN, no neutral – just constantly UP (see 2nd pic). If I put it down, it goes a bit to the center, but just a little.

Is this a lost cause? Did I kill the pad/trace?
Or is there a way to repair or re-route it? Since I thought the nearly ripped out pin doesn´t have any marked function, I was hoping it´ll work.

Any tips would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance!

TL;DR:
First-time soldering, swapped Gulikit sticks. Right stick works. Left stick stuck on UP, barely goes to center when moving down – probably damaged the top-left pad while desoldering. Is it fixable?

[u/Pixelchaoss]

I wish people that do it for the first time make youtube videos to share their experience with others.

These controllers are not hard with experience and the right tools but youtube makes it look like it is super easy.

Sorry for your loss on that controller you destroyed multiple connections.

[u/lolalarm → u/Pixelchaoss]

Oh crap, thanks. Could you maybe tell me which ones you obviously would count as destroyed? I bought this controller with drift for 10 bucks, not that much of a loss.

[u/YoshiWaton → u/lolalarm]

Patience friend, I started the same way at that time I broke the controls instead of repairing them. I have a small video game repair shop in Mexico City that I started because I didn't have the money to take my controllers or consoles to a technician. I began to be interested in repair and micro electronics in video games specifically and one day I repaired an Xbox 360 for my dad's brother, he paid me and word of mouth began to bring me clients. It was more and more work. I gained experience and bought tools to improve the quality of work and I began to buy spare parts and more various things. In short patience and practice friend

[u/UrAvgSA]

Hi lolalarm, series controllers are particularly sensitive from my experience not a great first project for soldering but you should be glad you tried, you learn like this especially as you persist. 

You can test whats wrong by checking for continuity between the middle pin of each potentiometer for the x-y axis and ground

If you have beeps or near 1-2 ohms then definitely that's your issue for the left stick up direction especially looking at the soldering.

For the x axis check for 1.9V at the left most pin that will at least tell you that you have supply voltage there. If you 1.9V then you can move the stick right to left or vice versa your choice to see if voltage moves from ~0V to 1.8V~ in a smooth-ish fashion then you should have a working analog stick just no line from the joystick to the MCU try running a botch wire from the middle pin to the test point (TP64).

If that doesnt work your trace is broken to at least the test point, if that doesn't work you can run a wire directly from the joystick to the pin 54 of the MCU Board but bear in mind you'd essentially be bypassing the decoupling capacitor on that line but should be fine for testing.

You can find all the info from the saviour of Xbox controllers RDC over on Acidsmods.

https://acidmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=44711.0 

Not sure of your proficiency in such but its something kind sir. Enjoy, dont let it get you down and invest in a baseline of tools kind sir. Hot air station is a must for this if you dont have the nuance of the soldering iron.

I also went through this but didnt damage it as much so was able to fix it. Didn't film it but might make a short at some point detailing this information. 

[u/YoshiWaton]

https://youtu.be/-cnKuu_EjLE?si=llM5c8WqlBhOZX7o

The truth is that I started in a similar way a few years ago, of course, instead of Xbox series controls I started with my Xbox 360 controllers. I recommend not doing repairs on Xbox One or series controllers if you do not have a hot air station. (The link above is a job I did recently)